BROOMFIELD -- The City Council likely won't pursue a moratorium on fracking but will continue to meet over the next few months to decide how to treat future oil and gas drilling applications.

The Broomfield City Council held a study session Tuesday night to discuss the feedback it received from a May 22 town hall meeting on hydraulic fracturing. More than 50 people spoke at the meeting in May, and the majority asked the council to place a moratorium on fracking until the city learns more about the potential health and safety issues that could be involved with the oil and gas drilling practice.

Most council members at Tuesday's meeting said they do not believe a moratorium is necessary, mostly because they were already delaying meetings with oil and gas applicants in order to re-examine the city's policies.

However, council members agreed that they need to update oil and gas policies and explore ways to work with oil and gas drilling applicants to ensure heightened safety standards.

Some Broomfield residents began protesting fracking a few months ago when they learned about a proposal to drill four natural gas wells in the North Park neighborhood.

The group, called Don't Frack Broomfield, urged the City Council to stop fracking and closely examine its potential dangers. Group members say the proposed wells are too close to North Park's Prospect Ridge Academy and that fracking could cause potential air, water and health hazards.

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The applicant for the four wells, Sovereign, has met all current standards and was supposed to meet with the City Council in April to get approval for the natural gas drilling. The request was pushed from April to June 25 so the council could further discuss fracking, but City and County Manager Charles Ozaki said Sovereign has since agreed to further delay the meeting until at least July 23 while the council continues to talk about potential changes to fracking policies.

In future meetings, the council will consider several options for changing the way it handles fracking agreements. Those options could include hiring an independent oil and gas consultant to provide context and guidance on issues such as industry standards, upcoming regulatory changes and the finer points of the drilling process. The council could also consider hiring an independent inspector to examine Broomfield's 97 producing oil and gas wells on a more regular basis.

The City Council could also decide to craft a potential memorandum of understanding with future oil and gas drilling operations. Such MOUs would aim to hold oil and gas companies to safety and regulatory standards that would be higher than the standards already in place in the state. In return, oil and gas companies might get incentives such as an expedited permitting process.

MOUs could also help address concerns of residents who asked for a moratorium because of safety questions.

"Public safety is No. 1," said council member Dennis McCloskey.

Council member Dave Jurcak, who represents the North Park area where the proposed drilling is located, was in favor of a moratorium. The city should take its time to look at all possibilities, he said.

"Fracking is going to happen on a federal, state and local level, but ... we need to develop something that we can all live with," he said.

Mayor Pat Quinn said he hopes any new standards Broomfield adopts will help the city and county foster relationships with "the good ones," or oil and gas operators that are willing to meet high regulatory standards and follow best practices.